Why are primitives not objects?

Primitive data types – includes byte , short , int , long , float , double , boolean and char . Non-primitive data types – such as String, Arrays and Classes (you will learn more about these in a later chapter)

Primitives are passed by value, i.e. a copy of the primitive itself is passed. Whereas for objects, the copy of the reference is passed, not the object itself . Primitives are independent data types, i.e. there does not exist a hierarchy/super class for them. Whereas every Object is descendent of class “Object”.

Non-Primitive data types refer to objects and hence they are called reference types. Examples of non-primitive types include Strings, Arrays, Classes, Interface, etc.

Since the primitive data types consume less memory and can be accessed faster , they are not objects. The equivalent Wrapper classes are also available in java like “Integer” “Short” etc. They can be used as objects if you want. However, the wrapper classes will be stored in Heap and they are slow.17 Mar 2012

1. Class, object, array, string, and interface are called non-primitive data types in Java. These data types are not predefined in Java. They are created by programmers.

Let’s explore the 3.5 categories that primitive types fall into. One of the tautological rules of Java programming is that everything in Java is an object except the things that aren’t Java objects . The language defines eight Java primitive data types: boolean, float, double, byte, short, int, long and char.30 Oca 2020